A'Lelia Bundles

Both my parents worked at the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, with my dad eventually being hired by another company called Summit Laboratories that made chemical hair straighteners.

Wearing your hair natural is a positive statement about who you are. It's not a protest to somebody else. It's affirming you.

Madam Walker's name gets thrown out as either the savior of black women's hair or she's the evil devil.

It's very hard to be a kid, especially in a predominantly white school or white town where other people want to police your body and hair.

I know of at least two black women who are billionaires: Sheila Johnson, who co-founded BET, and Oprah Winfrey. And I know of hundreds of black women whose net worth is over $1 million.

What grows from our head is something that we should love. The larger society can love it or not, but it's not their decision to make.

Natural hair is just my personal preference.

I think Michelle Obama ought to wear her hair exactly the way she wants to wear her hair. I am not looking for Michelle Obama to cut her hair off like I have mine, very short. I'm not looking for her to do twists. I'm looking for her to wear what's comfortable for her.

The saying was that Madam Walker made the money, and her daughter - my great-grandmother - spent it.

As one of the pioneers of modern hair care and cosmetics, Madam Walker is still an inspiration to a lot of people going into the business.

I'd seen how 'Green Book' had been a box-office hit, but left pianist Don Shirley's family feeling betrayed because his life and relationships had been distorted.

Madam Walker, as part of the first generation out of slavery, really was inventing the way that she operated in the world.

There are schools that have rules against afro puffs. They say it's distracting. But nobody is saying that about a little girl who has ponytails.

I love people who have really long locs. I love how they can go in different directions or pile it up into a big crown on the head.

There are two national historic landmarks: the Madam Walker Legacy Center in Indianapolis and the Madam C.J. Walker House in Irvington, New York.

For all my life, I've been trying to tell Madam's story and really it's a labor of love just to make sure people know about her and the empowerment she gave to other women.

My mother was the fourth generation of women to have worked with the Walker company. As a little girl, I would go to her office while she worked. She was a very capable woman.

Inner confidence is what makes us successful.

Through the years, Madam Walker has certainly become a staple of anything that has to do with black history, women's history and entrepreneurship.

God puts pack rats together with non-pack rats.